Out Our Way The Gospel According to Goliath "Crossing the Bridge"

Out our way even Beaver Creek can seem pretty powerful when the rains come and the snow melts. As many of you know, up on the nature trail in the park is the terrifying culvert, but I have to admit a few years back when the bridge at the Lion's Campground was wiped out, crossing Beaver Creek had me more than a little nervous.

Goliath is a big horse - 16 1/2 hands high and weighing a good 1200 pounds. [I know because he once stepped on my foot and I limped for a month!] Yet even so, there was white water as the current rushed and now and again a few broken limbs from downed trees swept by. Charlie and I needed to cross the creek.

Charlie, who after years on the Border Patrol and working cows out here had no concerns at all - but both Goliath and I were a bit nervous. I urged Goliath to the edge and he wasn't totally thrilled with the tide of going in - but Charlie and Jet just waded across without hesitation, so after sniffing the water and considering it - Golitah stepped in and walked through it to the other side. Turns out it wasn't so bad after all - in fact it wasn't even as deep as we thought. Once across I had to wonder - what was all the fuss about? 

As many of you know, to support my ministry I also work at Wal-Mart on the early shift that starts at 4 AM. As you can imagine, it is pretty dark as I take Highway 2 past the Mall and cross over the hill to the store below. There are street lights all the way to the US 87 intersection and when you reach the top of the hill, the road curves to the south and the street lights are seen from an angle. For whatever reason, the way they show up reminds me of a narrow bridge in the blackness - and every morning as I sight the "bridge" I have found myself thinking and praying for folks who have died this past year. The "bridge" has become for me a symbol of their " crossing over."

It is pitch black at 4 AM - even when the full moon is setting over Walmart and Black Mesa - and as I pray for those beloved souls and their families, I think about what lies on the other side of "the bridge." Is it just darkness and oblivion as some folks say? One crosses over into nothingness? Or is there something more on the other side? 

Well, that got me thinking about why Goliath and I were able to cross flooded Beaver Creek with a sense of confidence that time. It was because Charlie had already done it. In the same way, i realized that while I mourn those who have crossed "the bridge," and find I am more than a little nervous about the fact i will be crossing over as well one day - I have the assurance that not only is there an "other side," but that i will get there with dry feet. For just as Charlie showed me that Beaver Creek could be crossed - so Christ has shown me that death itself can and will be crossed when the time comes.

On Easter Sunday, we were reminded that the resurrection was not a myth, but an historical event. Yes, we have the testimony of the Gospel accounts - but we have more than that as well. For the past two years, the folks and I have studied the Book of Acts - the story of the birth of the Church ...all of which took place AFTER the Resurrection and BECAUSE of the Resurrection. In addition to the women and Apostles who saw the Risen Christ that Sunday morning, all of whom were challenged and most put to death for refusing to back off the claim of the Risen One - we have the testimony of others.

For example, we have the testimony of James - one of Jesus' siblings. James and his brothers and sisters, you may recall, believed Jesus was "beside himself" when He claimed to be the Messiah. That's a nice way of saying they thought he was crazy. Yet - we discover that the Risen Christ appeared to James, who went on to become the head of the Church until he was killed by those who hated the Churcha and the Gospel. And then there is the case of Saul of Tarsus -a sworn eneemy of Christ and the Church who made a name for himself as a persecutor of Christians. That is, until he also met the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus and became Paul - the author of the majority of the New Testament. Like James, he also suffered and died for the faith rather than back away from the claim that Christ had indeed risen. 

Historically, many others who once despised the faith and sought to destroy it, found the Risen Christ to be no myth or fairy takle - but a reality that refuses to go away. For over 2,000 years there have always been those in power who have sought to kill the faith - to eliminate Christ and His Church. They want Jesus dead and buried - and for a time they seem to prevail. As the high priests and religious authorities shut Him up in the tomb, so various emperors, dictators, and fanatics have tried to do the same through throwing Christians to the lions, shutting them up in Gulags, mowing them down with gun fire or beheading them in town squares and sending video out to the world, the Church remains.

Nero is dead. Hitler is dead. Lenin and Stalin are dead. So are many terrorists who blow up their own people as well as the so-called infidels in indiscriminate bombings of innocents. Yet Christ remains. He is risen and after 2,000 years of His enemies trying to get rid of Him, it should be clear to one and all - even them - Christ is risen and He is not going away.

{Brother John and Goliath's continue to serve First Presbyterian Church of Havre. They intend to keep on serving Christ until they cross the Bridge and then look forward to continuing to serve on the other side.}

Out Our Way